Orange Pi Zero 3W Review: $25 Dual Video Pi Zero 2W Killer?

Multimedia

The board operates well as a low-level mini PC and media system. We connected our Xiaomi Bluetooth speaker (XMFHZ02) and streamed music clearly using the Clementine music player app.

What about video playback performance?

In the realm of video playback, our board performed adequately for casual users. We successfully played 720p and 1080p resolution videos on YouTube using the Chrome browser, experiencing minimal frame drops. However, if you aim for higher resolution playback, you should expect an increase in frame drops.

GPU Acceleration for video decoding? Not So Fast.

The Allwinner A733 does not use its GPU for video decoding; instead, it relies on a dedicated hardware VPU (Video Processing Unit). The Zero W3 features an Imagination PowerVR BXM-4-64 MC1 GPU. According to the Orange Pi team, the drivers are already pre-installed in the Debian Bullseye image, as demonstrated in our check below.

orangepi@orangepizero3w:~$ lsmod | grep -i pvr
pvrsrvkm             1318912  17

The PowerVR-flavored Mesa stack is confirmed to be installed:

orangepi@orangepizero3w:~$ ls /usr/lib | grep -i pvr
ls /usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu | grep -i pvr
libGLESv1_CM_PVR_MESA.so
libGLESv1_CM_PVR_MESA.so.24.2.6603887
libGLESv2_PVR_MESA.so
libGLESv2_PVR_MESA.so.24.2.6603887
libpvr_dri_support.so
libpvr_dri_support.so.24.2.6603887
libPVROCL.so
libPVROCL.so.1
libPVROCL.so.24.2.6603887
libPVRScopeServices.so
libPVRScopeServices.so.24.2.6603887

VLC Medai Player: Video Decoding with GPU Acceleration

You can run VLC effectively on the Orange Pi Zero3W; however, the PowerVR GPU cannot be used for video decoding or rendering. This limitation is due to the incomplete PowerVR BXM‑4‑64 MC1 driver stack. Although the kernel module (pvrsrvkm) is present, the userspace driver lacks the necessary VAAPI, V4L2‑M2M, or EGL extensions required by VLC.

So the honest answer is:

VLC will work, but only with software decoding and software rendering. It cannot use the PowerVR GPU for acceleration on this board.

From our testing

When we attempted to play 4K videos using VLC Media Player, we experienced some lag. However, the overall performance was reasonably OK. Even with software rendering and no GPU acceleration, the Allwinner A733 octa-core CPU is significantly more powerful and handles video decoding more effectively than the Raspberry Pi Zero W2 quad-core CPU, making it a superior option compared to the competition.

Key takeaways:

The clear and direct answer is that, according to these libraries:

• libGLESv1_CM_PVR_MESA.so
• libGLESv2_PVR_MESA.so
• libpvr_dri_support.so
• libPVROCL.so
• libPVRScopeServices.so

The PowerVR BXM‑4‑64 MC1 GPU provides 3D rendering acceleration (OpenGL ES) but does not support hardware decoding for video playback.

GPU Capabilities Summary (PowerVR BXM‑4‑64 MC1)

Capability	Supported?	What It Means	More Info
OpenGL ES Rendering	✔️ Yes	3D graphics, shaders, UI acceleration	Uses libGLESv2_PVR_MESA.so
EGL Surface Creation	✔️ Yes	Lets apps create GPU-backed windows	Required for GLES apps
OpenCL Compute	✔️ Yes	GPU compute kernels (image processing, math)	Provided by libPVROCL.so
Shader Acceleration	✔️ Yes	Vertex/fragment shader execution	Part of GLES pipeline
2D/3D UI Acceleration	✔️ Yes	Faster window compositing, smoother UI	Depends on desktop environment
Video Decoding Acceleration	❌ No	H.264/H.265 hardware decode unavailable	A733 VPU not exposed to Linux
VAAPI	❌ No	Intel-style video acceleration	Not supported on ARM
VDPAU	❌ No	NVIDIA-style video acceleration	Not supported
V4L2-M2M Video Decode	❌ No	Linux hardware video decode API	Allwinner did not enable it
mpv Hardware Decoding	❌ No	mpv must use CPU decoding	GPU only helps with rendering
VLC Hardware Decoding	❌ No	VLC must use CPU decoding	No VPU access
Kodi Hardware Decoding	❌ No	Kodi uses software decode only	Same limitation

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What the GPU Is Actually Useful For?

Capability	Useful?	Description
3D rendering	✔️ Yes	Accelerates 3D graphics pipelines using OpenGL ES.
OpenGL ES apps	✔️ Yes	Runs GLES‑based applications with GPU acceleration.
UI acceleration	✔️ Yes	Helps desktop environments render windows and animations smoothly.
Shaders	✔️ Yes	Executes vertex and fragment shaders on the GPU.
OpenCL compute tasks	✔️ Yes	Supports GPU compute workloads via OpenCL (image processing, math kernels).
Games/emulators using GLES	✔️ Yes	RetroArch, PPSSPP, and GLES‑based engines can use the GPU for rendering.

The real reason is that hardware decoding is not available in the Linux images.

This confirms it 100%: The board contains A733 hardware, but the kernel and device tree are designed for the sun60i (H618 family) instead of the sun55i, which is associated with the A733 family. Essentially, this indicates that the kernel in use is likely incorrect. This misconfiguration is likely why the GPU is not set up properly and V4L2-M2M is missing.

The DTB (Device Tree Blob) information indicates that the kernel is configured for the sun60i SoC family, specifically the H616 / H618 variants.

root@orangepizero3w:~# ls /boot | grep dtb
dtb
dtb-6.6.98-sun60iw2

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What steps should you take if you still need support for hardware video decoding?

If you require hardware decoding support through the GPU and intend to use this board as a mini multimedia device, we recommend trying the 64-bit Android 13.0 (AOSP) image. Our tests indicate that it offers excellent video decoding capabilities, capable of playing videos from 720p up to 4K at 30fps. It also includes Vulkan support, which enables higher frame rates and reduces software overhead, leading to improved 3D performance and a smoother gaming experience for users.

The Android OS experience

While it works fine, it’s not really outstanding. Besides missing the Google Play Store app, it also has some testing apps that aren’t really needed. The upside is that you can install and use the Aptoide app store instead of Google Play, and you will likley be able to get rid of those unnecessary apps if you have root access. Another good thing is that the operating system supports hardware decoding, and the GPU drivers are set up correctly. This makes video playback a lot smoother compared to using the Debian Linux OS images.

Running Andoid 13.0 OS (64-Bit)

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The Kodi experience

We successfully played 1080P and 4K@30fps videos without any issues. However, the Android image does not come with the Google Play Store app pre-installed. Interestingly, you can gain root access, which provides a significant advantage, as explained in the user manual, allowing you to remove unnecessary apps. That said, do not expect it to support every possible video format. In summary, when this board is used with the Android operating system, it can definitely serve as a convenient portable media center for use on the go.

Running Kodi v21.3 (Omega) (64 BIT)